e did not go
to the lengths of some intrepid bathers, and have the ice broken for him
in winter; and by constant practice, and imitating the best swimmers
amongst whom he bathed, he had learned so much that he could compete
even with professionals for speed and endurance, and made the best
amateur time on record for so young a lad.

His practice now stood him in good stead; and he had, besides, an
additional advantage, for having learned to swim in fresh water, and
indeed never having essayed his powers in the sea, the unaccustomed
buoyancy of the waves, which he now experienced for the first time, gave
him a confidence and an ease which seemed surprising to him; he felt
that he did not require the slightest exertion to keep afloat, even
without the life-buoy, as he tested by letting go of it for a short
time, and with it he was certain he could almost rival Captain Webb and
swim for hours.

Of course it was rough work for a novice, paddling in such broken water;
but after a few strokes he got used to it, and, by dint of diving under
the swelling bosom of some of the more threatening crests, and floating
over the tops of the others whose ridges were yet perfect, he made his
way pretty rapidly towards the spot where he had espied David floating
off.

The wind and the set of the sea were both against him, but the answering
hail of the middy assured him he was proceeding in the right direction,
and would be soon by his lost friend's side.

Another stroke or two, and as Johnny Liston rose on the crest of a huge
mountain of water, which took him up almost to the sky, he saw below him
the broken timbers of the bulwarks rolling about in the trough of the
sea, and he thought they formed part of the wreckage on which David had
been supporting himself, and that he had seen him on them.

His heart sank within him like lead, for no one was floating on the
broken bulwarks now. Poor Dave must have gone.

Just at that moment, however, the middy's faint hail rang again clearly
out above the noise of the wind and the sea, to assure him he was still
above the surface, and restore his drooping energies.

"Ahoy! Help! Ahoy!"

He did not require to hail again, for, the next moment overtopping
another billow, his friend Jonathan shot up alongside of him, and
grasped him by the shoulder.

"Oh, Dave," he exclaimed. "Thank God I've got you safe. I thought I
would never have found you."

David had partly clambered up on the top